The present invention relates to a pen point or nib for a marking pen.
In a pen point for writing utensils such as marking pens and the like, typically, synthetic resin fibers or similar materials are bundled into a bar to draw out by capillary action the ink contained in the writing utensils so that the ink may be transferred to a writing surface.
Further, with the spread of writing utensils which are filled with fluorescent ink, pen points by which a thick line can be drawn have been in demand. Thus, pen points which are molded into knife cut shapes through polishing are commonly available. Consequently, a user could have selected a pen point according to the desired usage, and it has been possible for a user to smoothly draw a line with these known pen points.
However, the top and side surfaces of the pen point in known markers is usually exposed, and ink is also soaked in the side surface of the pen point. Therefore, when a line is drawn using a ruler or other guide tool, the contact surface between the ruler and the pen point is usually stained. Further, when the same operation is repeated using writing utensils with different ink colors, the side surfaces of these pen points are also stained. In order to avoid such an inconvenience, ink adhered to the ruler must be removed in every operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pen point or nib for a marking pen which eliminates the adhesion of ink to a ruler when drawing a line using the ruler or other guide tool. It is a further objection of the present invention to provide a pen point which will not become stained when drawing a line with a ruler or other guide tool.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by the present pen point for a marking pen in which the tip of a pen point formed from polyester-type synthetic fibers or similar material is coated with a coating member formed of a thermoplastic synthetic resin such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyacetal or polyvinyl chloride. Preferably, the coating material has a thickness of from between about 0.01 and about 2.00 mm. Antimicrobial properties may be imparted to the coating member, and the coating member may be rendered transparent or colored. In a preferred embodiment, the tip of the pen point projects slightly beyond the edge of the coating member.